One of the most prolific actors of his generation, Adam Sandler has been a bona fide movie star for three decades and counting.
After getting his start on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s, Sandler quickly became one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces. Over the last 30 years, he’s starred in a collection of self-driven comedies between more prestigious dramas and other projects that show off his range.
Watching all of the Sandman’s movies in order is no simple task, but Entertainment Weekly has compiled a handy list to help you through. Though the actor’s total credits are nearing triple-digits, for the purposes of this list, we’ve narrowed it down to his significant starring roles. That’s right… cameo appearances and smaller supporting parts are excluded.
Read on as we guide you through Adam Sandler’s major movies in order.
Billy Madison (1995)
Everett Collection
Sandler made his leading debut here as the ill-adjusted man-child of a billionaire who must go “back to school… to show dear father I’m not a fool.” In its mixture of childlike whimsy and adolescent vulgarity, Billy Madison set the template for all of the actor’s subsequent comedies. It’s vintage Sandman through and through.
Happy Gilmore (1996)
Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
In this winning farce, wannabe hockey star Happy (Sandler) enters a PGA tournament to save his grandmother’s (Frances Bay) home from foreclosure. In the process, he comes up against villainous yuppie (as if there’s another kind) Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) and wins the love of Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen). This remains one of Sandler’s most enduring movies, with a new sequel out now.
The Wedding Singer (1998)
Everett Collection
Sandler stars as Robbie Hart, the eponymous singer who’s left broken-hearted after his fiancé dumps him at the altar. Into his life comes spirited server Julia (Drew Barrymore), who shows Robbie what real love looks like. An unusually sweet-natured affair for ’90s Sandler, The Wedding Singer marked the first of his collaborations with Barrymore.
The Waterboy (1998)
Everett Collection
Essentially Happy Gilmore but with college football, The Waterboy stars Sandler (obviously) as simple-minded waterboy (obviously) Bobby Boucher. After never being allowed to play football, Bobby finally suits up at the urging of his struggling team’s coach (Henry Winkler). That turns out to be quite the boost, as Bobby channels his bottled-up rage into a ruthless mean streak on the gridiron. Oh, and his love interest is an ex-con played by Fairuza Balk.
Big Daddy (1999)
Ronald Siemoneit/Sygma/Sygma via Getty
Sandler plays Sonny Koufax, a commitment-phobic loafer (and deliberately unemployed law school grad) who suddenly finds himself raising his roommate’s 5-year-old son (played by Dylan and Cole Sprouse). Sonny has no idea how to be a dad, and it shows, but by the end learns all the lessons about fatherhood he needs.
Little Nicky (2000)
New Line Cinema/Getty
In this combination of dark fantasy and frat-boy comedy, Sandler plays the titular son of Satan (Harvey Keitel) and a beatific angel (Reese Witherspoon). His two brothers want to inherit the underworld crown, and take it upon themselves to create Hell on Earth. Nicky is sent to bring them back, and dies over and over again in the process.
Mr. Deeds (2002)
Everett Collection
Lovable small-town goofball Longfellow Deeds (Sandler) inherits his uncle’s estate, which includes a large mansion and a sprawling media company. As those within the organization work to undermine Deeds, enterprising reporter Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder) tries to get close to him for an exclusive scoop in this remake of Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936).
Eight Crazy Nights (2002)
Everett Collection
The star comedian followed up his uncharacteristically complex turn in Punch-Drunk Love with this animated Hanukkah comedy, which is anything but contemplative. After falling on the wrong side of the law after an inebriated spree, Davey Stone (Sandler) is sentenced to help referee a failing kid’s basketball team coached by elderly Whitey (also Sandler).
Anger Management (2003)
Sidney Baldwin/Columbia
Mild-mannered Dave Buznik (Sandler) is sentenced to anger management after a misunderstanding on a plane. Forced into a live-in arrangement with therapist Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson), Dave begins to understand the confrontational, problem-solving power of anger. A comedy in which the message seems to be that getting angry is actually good for you, Anger Management is notable for Nicholson’s performance and his enviable chemistry with Sandler.
50 First Dates (2004)
Columbia/courtesy Everett
Henry Roth (Sandler) is a womanizer who finally meets the love of his life (Barrymore). There’s just one problem: She suffers from short-term memory loss dating back to a tragic accident; they hit it off one day, he returns the next, only to discover she has no idea who he is. Henry, of course, is undeterred, as the movie finds various ways to embrace and twist the core premise.
Spanglish (2004)
Bob Marshak/Columbia Pictures
After PTA, James L. Brooks was the next auteur to take advantage of a different side of Sandler’s talents. This time he plays a neurotic chef trying to navigate his restaurant; his basketcase, type-A wife (Téa Leoni); their adolescent kids; his blunt-instrument of a mother-in-law (Cloris Leachman); and his inconveniently hot new housekeeper (Paz Vega). Messy and idiosyncratic in a very Brooks way, this seriocomic effort flopped at the box office… but we still really want to try that sandwich.
The Longest Yard (2005)
Everett Collection
This is a surprisingly straightforward remake of the 1974 Robert Aldrich/Burt Reynolds classic, in which prisoners face off against the guards in a high-stakes football game. This one finds Sandler and his costars (including Chris Rock and Reynolds, returning to play the wizened old con) in comparatively more dramatic mode, merging the serious but fun vibes of the original with Sandler’s goofier comic impulses.
Click (2006)
Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Sandler basically attempts to make his It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) with Click, only with fast-forwarding through your life instead of suicide, and a magical sales clerk (Christopher Walken) instead of a guardian angel. It’s the story of a workaholic dad (Sandler) who gets a magical remote that can stop, fast forward, and rewind time. You know that saying, ‘Don’t meddle with the past’? Well, none of the characters in this movie do.
Reign Over Me (2007)
Sony Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
In this drama from indie filmmaker Mike Binder, Sandler plays a man who lost it all on 9/11 — wife, children, and with them any sense of purpose he once had — who reconnects with an old college buddy (Don Cheadle), now a buttoned-up lawyer. Sandler helps Cheadle loosen up, and Cheadle helps him heal.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)
Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Sandler and Kevin James play two heterosexual firefighters (read: the most macho) and best friends who have to pretend to be gay for the purposes of a (well-intentioned) life insurance scam. This is one of those movies where a simple plan with a simple objective gets complicated as the characters go to elaborate lengths to pull off a ruse.
Where to watch I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry: Amazon Prime
You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (2008)
Tracy Bennett/Columbia Pictures
Judd Apatow produced this parody of action movies, which stars Sandler as the titular Zohan, an Israeli counterterrorism commando who moves to America to fulfill his dream of becoming a hairdresser. Zohan is a unique mix of genre and cultural parody which, despite its thorny political territory, is rarely mean-spirited.
Bedtime Stories (2008)
Tracy Bennett/Walt Disney Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Sandler is once again in babysitter mode, this time as a disenchanted guy tasked with taking care of his niece and nephew. He starts telling them fantastical stories, which we then see enacted by Sandler and his supporting cast. The stories, it turns out, start to develop a strange habit of coming true in the real world.
Funny People (2009)
Tracy Bennett/Universal
Apatow directed this dramedy about a movie star (Sandler) who, after a cancer diagnosis, begins reexamining his unsatisfying life. In the process, he takes an aspiring stand-up (Seth Rogen) under his wing and reconnects with an ex (Leslie Mann). In addition to taking sharp (if affectionate) meta-swipes at Sandler’s movie career, Funny People subverts its primary hook, crafting a character portrait of a guy set up to have a life-changing epiphany… and then doesn’t. Sandler is brilliant as a version of himself, and the movie is equal parts spiky and cuddly.
Grown Ups (2010)
Tracy Bennett/Tristar
Sandler teams with old pals Kevin James, David Spade, and Chris Rock for this loosey-goosey tale of childhood friends reuniting at a lake house with their respective partners and kids. Hijinks ensue.
Jack and Jill (2011)
Tracy Bennett/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
This silly holiday comedy features Sandler as both intolerant brother and odd-job twin sister (Jill) while everyone else looks on in horror. Ad-man Jack’s attempt to get Al Pacino for a new commercial turns into… a subplot about Al Pacino becoming romantically fixated on Jill.
Just Go With It (2011)
Tracy Bennett/Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Plastic surgeon Daniel (Sandler) convinces his assistant (Jennifer Aniston) to pose as his ex-wife during a family getaway in order to protect a lie he told to his hopeful paramour (Brooklyn Decker). Which woman will turn out to be the right one? Might the supermodel turn out not to be everything she’s cracked up to be? Might Aniston’s “mousy” assistant turn out to be his true love? We shan’t tell.
Hotel Transylvania (2012)
Sony PIctures
Genndy Tartakovsky’s feature calls back to classic Universal and Hammer horror while bringing to life a fleshed-out animated world. Dracula (Sandler) and his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) run a hotel for monsters, which Mavis endangers by bringing human boyfriend Johnny (Andy Samberg) to stay. Overprotective in the extreme, the centuries-old bloodsucker will have to conform to Johnny’s intolerable modern ways.
That’s My Boy (2012)
Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock
You’d be hard pressed to find any subtext in this tale of a scabrous manchild (Sandler) causing chaos at the wedding of his estranged son (Samberg), whom he fathered as a pre-teen with his adult schoolteacher (Susan Sarandon). This is one of those Sandler movies where the kitchen sink is absolutely overflowing and everything is chaos.
Grown Ups 2 (2013)
Tracy Bennett
The boys are back in town for this follow-up to the massively successful original film, only the town in this case, for protagonist Lenny (Sandler), is his childhood hometown. It’s more of the same, but isn’t that what you came for?
Blended (2014)
Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection
The third collaboration between Sandler and Barrymore is this family adventure. The stars play single parents, both of whom are dealing with the fallout from their prior marriages (one divorce, one death) and a whole lot of kid drama (five in total). A blind date turns into something much more on a trip to Africa, where slapstick and googly eyes ensue.
Men, Women, & Children (2014)
Dale Robinette/Paramount Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Sandler plays a suburban dad in an unhappy (and unfaithful) marriage in Jason Reitman’s ensemble drama, which believes itself to be Short Cuts (1993) meets American Beauty (1999) but is really just Desperate Housewives with a “modern technology is making us more disconnected” hook.
Where to watch Men, Women, & Children: Amazon Prime (to rent)
The Cobbler (2014)
Macall Polay
Just a few months before his Best Picture-winning Spotlight (2014) arrived in theaters, director Tom McCarthy released this curious genre mashup. Sandler is the eponymous cobbler, who discovers a magical sewing machine that allows him to live as his clients when he puts on their shoes. Yes, it’s like that old saying, but completely literal.
Pixels (2015)
Columbia Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Former video game wiz-kid Sam Brenner (Sandler) must assemble a crack team of nerds to extinguish a threat when Earth comes under attack by an alien race taking the form of Pac Man and other beloved console characters. Kevin James plays the President of the United States, a fact that will go uncommented upon here.
Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)
SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT INC.
Mavis and Johnny are set to be married and embark on a road trip to meet his parents. Meanwhile, while Dracula is decking his hotel out for the occasion and reconciling with the melancholic feelings of seeing his daughter walk down the aisle.
The Ridiculous 6 (2015)
Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection
In the first effort of Sandler’s lucrative Netflix deal, White Knife (Sandler) and his five half-brothers set out to find their long-lost father (Nick Nolte), who’s found himself in hot water with a few tough hombres.
The Do-Over (2016)
Netflix
A frenetic action comedy, Sandler’s second Netflix feature, concerning two idiots (Sandler and Spade) who fake their deaths to avoid petty problems and take on the identities of two men wanted by ruthless gangsters. As usual, Kathryn Hahn steals the show.
Sandy Wexler (2017)
Netflix
Sandy Wexler (Sandler) is a downtrodden L.A. agent who finds his ticket back to the big time in the form of a skilled singer (Jennifer Hudson). A love letter to Sandler’s own agent, Sandy Wexler is sweet-natured as both a rom-com and a showbiz satire — and features a great punchline of a late cameo.
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)
Netflix
Sandler and Ben Stiller star as brothers on opposite coasts who reunite in New York to see their father (Dustin Hoffman) fêted for his artistic career. Noah Baumbach directed this film, which may be the most Baumbachian thing he’s made to date. Sandler, as usual when in the hands of a filmmaker outside the Happy Madison stable, shows off a deep well of emotional reserves.
Where to watch The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected): Netflix
The Week Of (2018)
Macall Polay/Netflix
Robert Smigel, better known as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog but also a frequent Sandler collaborator, directed this wedding farce. Sandler and Rock play fathers on both sides of the aisle who find themselves reckoning with family catastrophes in the lead-up to their kids’ nuptials.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)
Sony Pictures Animation
Dracula falls in love with Kathryn Hahn’s Erika Van Helsing (oop) during a sunny cruise to various tropical climes because, hey, it’s the third installment and what else is there to do?
Where to watch Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation: Amazon Prime (to rent)
Murder Mystery (2019)
Netflix
Sandler and Aniston reteam for this breezy romp through Europe. This time, the stars play Nick and Audrey, a dissatisfied married couple who, during a jaunt to spice up their union, find themselves framed for a billionaire’s murder.
Uncut Gems (2019)
A24
Howard Ratner (Sandler, inexplicably overlooked at the Oscars) is a jewelry store owner and degenerate gambler who finds his life unraveling during an extremely stressful week in which everything he holds dear hangs in the balance: His family, his mistress, his bets, and that euphoria-inducing black opal that has finally, at long last, arrived at his shop. A masterclass of anxiety cinema, Uncut Gems showed that Sandler still has new tricks up his sleeve.
Hubie Halloween (2020)
Scott Yamano/NETFLIX
Hubie (Sandler) is a simple-minded man who finds himself the subject of extreme pranks from people in his town, which seems to function as one big high school. He gets the chance to redeem himself when a murderer begins knocking off locals.
Hustle (2022)
Scott Yamano/Netflix
Another terrific dramatic performance from Sandler anchors this above-average basketball drama. He plays a disenchanted basketball scout (Sandler) who has a chance at redemption after finding a promising prospect in Europe.
Murder Mystery 2 (2023)
Scott Yamano/Netflix
On the success of their first solved mystery, Nick and Audrey are now professional private investigators working at their own agency. When their friend is kidnapped, the couple risk everything they hold dear to find out who’s behind it all.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)
Courtesy of Netflix
Sandler plays onscreen father to his real-life daughters Sunny and Sadie, who play sisters and best pals Stacy and Ronnie, respectively. Ahead of their bat mitzvahs, the girls are torn in opposite directions due to boys, friends, and teenage hormones.
Where to watch You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah: Netflix
Leo (2023)
Courtesy of Netflix
Sandler voices the titular reptile who, after discovering he doesn’t have much time left, plots to escape the classroom terrarium in which he’s spent most of his life. Along the way, he becomes a sort of de-facto therapist and sounding board to all the kids in class.
Spaceman (2024)
Courtesy of Netflix
An astronaut (Sandler) on an extended solo mission contemplates his past errors and reflects on his marriage (to Carey Mulligan) while waging a relationship with a friendly spider (voiced by Paul Dano) in this cosmic melodrama.
Happy Gilmore 2 (2025)
Scott Yamano/Netflix
Sandler reprises one of his most famous roles in this sequel to the 1995 classic. Original cast members Bowen, McDonald, and Stiller return alongside newcomers Margaret Qualley, Travis Kelce, and Bad Bunny. There’s also a role in there for Sandler’s daughter, Sunny. Let the games begin!
